1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to athletic equipment, and more particularly to a medicine ball having one or two attachable handles, the attachable handles enabling a plurality of additional exercises.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art contains a variety of exercise devices, including medicine balls, free-weights, and dumb bells. Simple medicine balls are well known in the prior art; however, none of these references disclose the attachment of handles of any sort to these exercise devices. Gilman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,438, for example, discloses a medicine ball having a rigid core surrounded by an outer layer of foamed polyurethane. Gilman does not disclose the attachment of handles to the ball, nor does it teach that this would be a desirable feature.
Calvert, U.S. Pat. No. 1,316,683, Metzger, U.S. Pat. No. 560,517, and Schmidt, U.K. No. 2,333, disclose various embodiments of the traditional dumb bell. These references disclose two handle attachment ports. However, the dumb bells are constructed of steel rather than a resilient material. Furthermore, the handle connections are of entirely different construction. The first handle attachment port is designed to interconnect two dumb bells to form a traditional dumb bell. The second handle attachment port is designed only to facilitate transportation of the dumb bell. The references do not disclose a dumb bell with a resilient construction, nor do they disclose the attachment of two handles to one bell for performing exercises.
An exercise bar having a weight mounted in the middle of the bar is taught by Polchek, U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,227, Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,256, and Burzenski, U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,906. The references do not disclose the use of a resilient ball as the central weight, nor do they teach the desirability of attaching such a ball. Furthermore, none of these references disclose an attachment means that would allow the device to be used with only one handle, or with no handles at all.
Another example of a novel piece of exercise equipment is disclosed in Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 259,752, which discloses an exercise club that enables a variety of novel exercises. This reference discloses the attachment of handles to a centrally located weight device; however, it does not disclose the use of a resilient ball as the central weight, nor does it teach the desirability of making this novel combination.
Various additional exercise devices are shown in the prior art. Alastalo, U.S. Pat. No. 1,536,048, discloses a rigid hand bar for physical training. The hand bar is modular, thereby allowing the user to modify the bar to his or her particular exercise. Panagos, U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,199, discloses interlocking dumb bells. Various additional patents have been granted for more unusual exercise devices. Donato, U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,534, for example, discloses an exercise bar with revolvable arms; and Dantolan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,118, discloses a reciprocating weight exercise device.
The prior art teaches medicine balls; and the prior art teaches exercise bars with the weights mounted on the middle of the bar; and the prior art also teaches an exercise club. However, the prior art does not teach a single device that can be adapted to fulfill the goals of all of these weights in one piece of exercise equipment. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.